1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device information display apparatus for displaying device information of a field device, a device information display program, and a computer-readable storage device storing the program.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-004750, filed Jan. 13, 2011, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
All patents, patent applications, patent publications, scientific articles, and the like, which will hereinafter be cited or identified in the present application, will hereby be incorporated by reference in their entirety in order to describe more fully the state of the art to which the present invention pertains.
In the related art, in order to perform an advanced automatic operation, a distributed control system (DCS), in which site devices (measuring instruments, operators) called field devices and a device management apparatus for managing and controlling the site devices are connected to each other through a communication bus, has been configured in a plant, a factory or the like. In such a plant, field devices provided from various makers have been installed in many cases. However, if field devices with different specifications are provided, managing the field devices is difficult. In this regard, in the related art, the difference in the specifications of the field devices provided from various makers is absorbed using an electronic device description language (EDDL), which is a language for describing the characteristics or attributes of field devices, resulting in the realization of unified management.
Here, the maintenance of the field devices installed in the plant and the like have been performed by operators regularly or irregularly in order to prevent an abnormal operation, maintain measurement accuracy and the like. In many cases, the maintenance of the field devices has been performed using a portable terminal apparatus such as a computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA) provided with a dedicated tool (a field device setting tool) for setting or adjusting the field device. Even in the field device setting tool, the above-mentioned EDDL is used in order to recognize the characteristics or attributes of field devices to be subject to maintenance.
In detail, when the maintenance of a field device is performed, a operator connects the field device to be subject to maintenance to the portable terminal apparatus provided with the field device setting tool using a cable (for example, a universal serial bus (USB) cable). Next, the operator operates the portable terminal apparatus to acquire device information (parameters) from the field device and allow the acquired device information to be displayed on the portable terminal apparatus. Then, according to necessity, the operator operates the portable terminal apparatus to change the device information with reference to the device information displayed on the portable terminal apparatus. Thereby, the operator gives a setting instruction of the device information for the field device. In this way, setting or adjustment is variously performed for the field device.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2010-79384 discloses a device information display apparatus capable of displaying device information of a field device in a multi-window environment while conforming to an enhanced electronic device description (e-EDD) standard. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-252145 discloses a device information display apparatus that displays device information according to a template for prescribing the display method of the device information. United States Patent Application, Publication No. 2007-0077665 discloses technology capable of changing a user interface through a tool using device type manager (DTM) technology.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2010-79384, the device information is displayed using a device description (DD) file prepared by a vendor of the field device. In the DD file, since a display menu has also been defined in addition to all characteristics or attributes of a field device provided by the vendor, the number of pieces of device information to be displayed is enormous. Therefore, since time is required until device information to be referred to by a user is reached, operability is deteriorated. Furthermore, since the number of pieces of the device information to be displayed is enormous, for example, even when names are the same as one another, an abnormal operation, such as erroneous reference of device information, may occur with different characteristics or attributes.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2006-252145, it is possible to change the display method of the device information. However, it is necessary to describe a template for prescribing the display method in a text format, causing problems in usability. In US Patent Application Publication No. 2007-0077665, the user interface is graphically modifiable. However, since it does not conform to the EDD standard and the structure of the display menu has been defined in an independent format, it lacks general versatility and expandability.
Here, if a source file for defining a display menu prescribed in the EDD standard is directly modified using an editor and the like, it may be possible to display only device information that needs to be displayed. However, since the source file is extremely complicated and time and troublesome work are required in order to modify the source file, it is not realistic. Furthermore, for a field device provided by a vendor and not disclosing the source file, it is difficult to change a display menu. It may also be possible for a vendor to prescribe device information to be displayed. However, since optimal device information to be displayed depends on applications of a user, it is not realistic for the vendor to cope with such things.